Honeywell to Buy New Headquarters in Morris Plains, N.J.

Feb. 26 (Bloomberg) --Honeywell International Inc., the
maker of products from thermostats to flight controls, agreed to
buy a 40-acre campus in Morris Plains, New Jersey, to use as its
new headquarters, scuttling plans to redevelop its current home.

Honeywell, currently based in Morris Township, plans to
move in 2015, the company said in a statement today. It is
buying the campus, which includes 475,000 square feet (44,000
square meters) of office space and a parking garage, from
McNeil-PPC Inc., a unit of Johnson & Johnson, according to the
statement, which didn’t include financial terms.

The deal is subject to the approval of state tax incentives
by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority. The state
agency last year approved $40 million in tax credits for the
company to redevelop its Morris Township campus, according to
minutes of the meeting posted on its website. Honeywell has
refiled its application to reflect its decision to move to
Morris Plains, the company said today.

“This site represents a terrific opportunity for
Honeywell,” Rick Kriva, Honeywell’s vice president of global
real estate, said in the statement. “The new building can more
than accommodate our current New Jersey employee base, allows
for future growth, and will enable us to develop a truly world-class global headquarters while staying in Morris County and New
Jersey.”

Honeywell had initially planned to stay in Morris Township,
where it has been based for more than 50 years, and redevelop
its campus as a mixed-use site with a combination of commercial,
residential and lab space. The current 147-acre (59-hectare)
headquarters is “underutilized, with more than 50 percent of
the campus unoccupied and its buildings outdated, inefficient
and costly to operate,” according to the statement.

Local opposition over two years and 50 public meetings in
Morris Township prompted the company to rethink its plans and
seek a new campus in another town, according to the statement.